Blank-handling mechanism



R. c. SIMMONS.

BLANK HANDLING MECHANISM.

APPLICATWN FILED JAN.I8,1918. I 1,423,630. ed ly 25, 1922.

2 SHEETS- SHEET I.

R. C. SIMMONS.

BLANK HANDLING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILEDiJAN. 18, 1918.

1,423,630, Patented July 25, 1922.

Q SHEETS-SHEET 2.

RALPH C. SIMMONS, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, A SSIGNOR TO UNITEDSI-IOE MA- CHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATEBSON, NEW JERSEY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BLANK-HANDLING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1922.

Application filed January 18, 1918. Serial No. 212,502.

To (ZZZ w 710m. it 727. 1 7 concern.

Be it known that I, RALPH C. Simmons, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Blank-Handling Mechanisms,

of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to blank handling mechanism and is of particular utility when applied to the handling of blanks which are not of uniform thickness throughout, such, for example, as wedge shaped heel lifts.

Numerous attempts have been made in the past to provide means for handling and feedcannot be stacked in a straight, vertical stack with all the breast edges in alinement.

In automatic heel building machines, for example, the usual method of handling the lifts or sections from which the heels are built is to stack them in upright magazines from which theyare mechanically fed, one at a time, and it is eminently desirable in such machines, as well as in automatic lift gouging and other automatic blank treating machines to be able: to handle wedge lifts in substantially the same way that flat blanks are handled.

VVith the above outlined conditions in view, an important object of the present invention is to provide improved means for to string the blanks upon a holder or rod having a cross-sectional contour approximating the shape of the aperture. In the specific embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, I have shown a rod of rectangular cross-section, upon which heel lifts, each having a rectangular aperture through it, are strung, all positioned with their breast edges facing in the same direction. The lift cutting machine is preferably provided with means for forming the aperture at the same time the lifts are died out, and automatic feeding mechanism receives the lift from the cutting machine, conveys, or transfers, it to the holder, turns each lift in its own plane before it reaches the holder, and places it thereon. The rod may be of considerable length so that a convenient number of lifts may be assembled upon it, after which the rod and the string or stack of lifts upon it may be removed and, when required, placed in the machine in which the lifts are to be used, where they are fed, one at a time, from the end ofthe rod.

A further object of the invention is to combine with a blank producing machine, such for example, as a machine for dieing out heel lifts from sheet material. mechanical or automatic means for taking the blanks from the machine, keeping them continuously under control while rejecting imperfect lifts, and assembling and maintaining the perfect lifts in groups from which they can subsequently be individually removed and utilized.

Other objects and more or less specific features of the invention will become apparentupon reading the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which i Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a lift cutting machine combined with automatic lift receiving, transferring, and stacking mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of a detail of the lift feeding mechanism; and Fig, 3 is a vertical view, partly in section, of a portion of the lift cutting machine.

Referring to the drawings, 10 indicates the utting block and 12 the die bed of any preferred form of lift cutting machine, of which there are several already known in the art. In machines of this type it is customary to provide an opening through the die and the bed, throu h which the lifts pass and emerge below. in the present instance, however, I have provided a modified die 14: which is mounted upon the bed 12 in any suitable way.

The die 1% has a cutting edge 16 of the contour of the blank to be cut and is mounted upon a base 18. A smaller rectangular die 20 is also mounted in the base 18 within the die 14, preferably approximately in the center thereof, the cutting edges of the two dies being in the same plane. The smaller die is surrounded by a compression spring 22 which rests upon the die base 18 and bears against the under side of a plate 2a. The plate 24 carries upright posts 26 which support a stripper plate 28. V hen a piece of sheet material is placed over the die and the cutting block is forced downward, the

stripper plate yields, permitting a lift to be cut into the die, but as soon as the cuttingblock rises again, the spring 22 and the strip per plate operate to eject the lift from the die, raising it to a plane slightly above the cutting edges where it may be pushed off horizontally.

The smaller die 20 is open through, permitting the rectangular piece died out of the center of the lift, which waste material, to fall away. The usual feed wheels 30 are provided for feeding the sheet material, from which the lifts are cut, to the die.

I have shown in Fig. 1 a strip of heel stock 32 having a wedge-shaped cross section being fed to the lift cutting machine to produce wedge lifts. After the lift is died out of the strip, as described, and elevated by the stripper plate 28 to a plane slightly above the cutting edges of the dies, the strip is fed forward. The advancing end of the strip pushes the lift off the stripper plate, mowing it forward until. it passes into a receiver where it is seized by lift transferring or conveying mechanism which will now be described.

A bracket 34, having in its base a slot 36,.

is adjustably secured by a bolt 38 to a projection 10 upon the die bed.. A horizontal tube or bar 42 is mounted in the bracket 34. and supports the operating parts of the feeding or conveying mechanism.

The lifts are fed along the endless belts, one of which, shown at lel, runs over a driving roll 46, an idle guide pulley 48 and an idle roll in the end of an arm 50. The arm 50 is secured upon a rock shaft 52 journaled in stationary bearing A compression spring 56 tends .to rock the shaft 52and thereby to depress the arm 50, forcing the belt i t to afford a positive drive fen-the: belt The belt is also provided with projecting studs 61, arranged to engage the lifts and provide, in effect, a positive feed therefor. The shaft 60 is journaled in a stationary bearing 62 and has at its opposite end a pulley 64 over which runs a belt 66. driven from any suitable source of power. From the pulley 64 the belt 66 passes to driving engagement with a pulley 68 mounted upon one end ofa shaft which is journaled in a stationary bearing 70 and carries at its opposite end a wheel 72 similar to the wheel 46. An endless feed belt 74f is driven by the wheel 72 and passes around an idle, roll upon the end of a stationary arm 76.

A guide pulley 418 is journaledin the end of an arm 78 secured to a rock shaft 80, similar in construction to the rock shaft'52 and under the influence of a spring v8:2 tending to lower the pulley L8 and keep the belted in engagement witlrthe belt Ttbut constructed to yield to allow a lift to pass bettween the two belts.

From the pulley G8 the belt66 passes to a third driving pulley 8i and back again over an idler S6 whence it returns to the motor or other source of power. .The driving pulley 8-1 is, similarly to the pulley 68, mounted upon oneend of a shaft which. carries-at its other-endawheel 88 arranged to drive a third feed belt 90 which passes around an idle roll in the end of a stationary arm 92. Adjacent sections of. the beltle't and the belt 90 run in the same direction, as do adjacent sections of thebelt a l and the belt 74 and, taken together, th'ese feed belts constitute means for feeding heel lifts from the lift cutting machine toward the left. as viewed in Figurefl.

When thelift 58 is seized between the belt-S44: and 90 it is fed along until it reaches and passes over the wheel 88. The wheel 88 is separated from the right hand end of the. arm 76 by such aspace as will be bridged over by a perfect lift, but if, as sometimes happens when the end of the strip 82 is reached, the advancing blank is only a portion of. a lift, it will not bridge the said space but will fall through it. Such an imperfect lift, falling away from thefeeding mechanism, is shown at 9 4. 1

An approximately perfect lift, such as is indicated at96 willcross'thespace and be seized by the feed belts 74, 4A and fed forward. Up to this point, the lift has been fed in the direction of its transversedimension, but it desirable that it move longitudinally as it approaches the rod upon whichit is to be strung. As it is further advanced by the feed belts, the corner of the lift comes into engagement with one side of a chute or guideway 98 having lift guiding and supporting grooves 100 spaced apart just far enough to permit a lift to ad- ,vance along the guideway in the direction of its length. The guideway is deflected at cular and theshape of the rod correspondits entrance, as shown at 102, and'as a lift strikesthe abutment or corner 1 of the guideway, it turns about said corner as a pivot, assumes successively the positions shown at 106, 108, and 110, in Fig. and finally advances longitudinally in the guiding grooves, as illustrated at 112.

As previously stated, the lift will bridge the space between the feed belts 7e and 90, if it is approximately of full size, but this space must, as a practical matter, be made somewhat less than the width of a lift in order to insure that the lifts shall be fed with certainty, and it is possible for a lift which is slightly imperfect, in that it is slightly narrow,'to cross the space,but the guides 100 may be spaced quite'accurately to the proper width of a lift, and when a slightly imperfect liftenters these guides, it will fall through between them and drop away from the feeding mechanism. Such a lift is indicated at 114:. For the purpose of permitting adjustment of the guideway 98 to the exact width of the lifts being cut, the two side sections are supported, by bolt and slot connections, upon overhead bracl;- ets 116. The lift is fed along the guiding grooves 100 by the friction of the belt M on the top of the lift and the engagement of one of the studs 61 with its edge until it reaches the positionindicated at-118 in Fig. 2, where it is arrested by an adjustable stop 120. This stop is so positioned that the lift will be arrested with its central aperture or opening in register with the upper end of a correspondingly shaped rod or holder 122, which is maintained in a vertical position by any suitable holder, such is indicated at 12 1. As before stated, the rod or article holder 122 is so mounted that it may be readily removed to substitute an empty one therefor. As shown the rod 122 is mounted. in the holder 12% and releasably held therein by a clamp 121 pivoted at 1223 upon the holder 124: and having a latch end 125 by which the clamp is retained in position securely to hold the rod 122 in the desired location, the latch end 125 being operable to release the clamp in a well-known manner. The upper end of the rod 122 is tapered, as shown at 126, to insure that the lift shall drop upon the rod properly, The guiding grooves 100 are terminated at 128a suflicient distance from the stop 120 to permit the lift to drop freely when it reaches the sto 1 is the lifts are brought into engagement with the stop 120 they drop successively andare threaded upon the rod 122 in a vertical stack. They assume positions upon the red, as indicated at 130 with their thicker edges in engagementwith each other and their thinner edges somewhat separated By reason of the holes in the lifts being non-ciring to that of the holes, the lifts are prevented from turning and are held in perfect register with each other and, the rod being straight, they are maintained in a straight, vertical pile or stack, with their breast edges in alinement.

The rod may be of indefinite length, to permit the accumulation of any desired quantity of blanks, and when it is filled it may be removed, another rod substituted, and the operation continued. The rod, with the assemblage of lifts upon it, may be stored until such time as it is desired to use the lifts, whenit may be supported by its so upper end, and the lifts fed singly from the lower end by feeding mechanism similar to that already used in feeding lifts from the bottom of the ordinary lift magazine.

f \Vhile the invention is shown herein as arranged to feed and stack heel lifts, it will. be apparent that it is equally applicable to handling other kinds of blanks of sheet material where the presence of a non-circular hole or aperture in the interior portion of 9 the blank would be unobjectionable, and, while it is of particular utility and value for use in connection with blanks of wedge shape or of non-uniform thickness, it could also be employed with equal success in hanclaimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is p 1. In a mechanism for stacking blanks, the combination. of a portable, elongated holder member of non-circular cross section constructed and arranged to enter a non-circular '0 aperture in a blank, means for receiving a blank having a non-circular aperture, turning it inits own plane until the longer axis of its aperture becomes parallel to the longer dimension of the cross section of said holder member, conveying it to said member and stringing it thereon, and means for detachably supporting said member in blank receiving relation to the conveying means,

whereby said member with a stack of blanks 11 5 strung thereon may be removed and transported without disturbing the relation of the blanks to each other.

In a blank handling mechanism, the

combination of means for forming a noncircular aperture in ablank, a portable noncircular blank holding member constructed and arranged to enter said aperture, means for transferring the blank from the aperture forming means to, and stringing it upon,

the blank holding member, said last-mentioned means comprising means for turning the blank in its passage from the forming means toth'e holding means to facilitate the stringing operation, and means for de- 1 3-0 taehably supporting the holder in receiving relation to the transferring means.

3. In a blank handling mechanism, the combination of means for forming a noncircular aperture in a blank, a portable blank holder constructed and arranged to enter said aperture and having a crossisectional contour approximating' the shape of the aperture, means for transferring the blank from the aperture forming means to, and string ing it upon, the holder, said last-mentioned means comprising means for turning the blank in its passage from the forming means to the holding member to facilitate the stringing operation, and means for detachably supporting the holder in receiving relation to the transferring means.

4. In a blank handling mechanism, the combination of means for dieing out and forming a non-circular aperture in a blank, a portable holder constructed and arranged to enter said aperture and having a cross sectional contour approximating the shape of the aperture, feeding mechanism for transferring the blank from the dieing means to. and threading it upon, the holder, the feeding mechanism being constructed and arranged to turn the blank so that the longer axis of its aperture will be parallel to the larger dimension of the cross section of the holder before the blank is strung on the holder, and means for detachably supporting the holder in receiving relation to the transferring means.

In a blank handling mechanism, the combination ofmeans for forminga rectangular aperture in a blank, a portable rod constructed and arranged to enter said aperture and having a rectangular cross section, means for transferring the blank from the aperture forming means to. and stringing it upon, the rod, a stationary abutment and guideway co-operating with the transferring means to turn the blank in its own plane before it is strung on the rod so as to facilitate the stringing operation, andmeans for detachably supporting the rod in receiving relation to the transferring means.

6. In a heel blank handling mechanism, the combination of means for dieing out a heel lift and simultaneously forming a rectangular aperture therein with the longer dimension thereof parallel with the breast edge of the lift, a portable holder having a rectangular cross section to fit the aperture in the blank which must be turned in its own plane subsequently to its formation in order to be strung on the holder, feeding means for transferring the lift from the die to the holder, and for turningand delivering it with the aperture in proper register tobe strung on the holder, and means for detachably supporting the holder in receiving relation to the feedingmeans;

f a blankstacking? mechanism, the

combination of a lift holder, and lift feeding mechanism constructed and arranged to receive lifts, progress them toward the holder facing in one direction, turn them to face in another direction, and deliver them one upon another to the holder.

8. In a blank stacking mechanism, the combination of a lift holder, and feeding mechanism constructed and arranged to receive lifts, progress them in their own planes toward the holder, turn them in their own planes, and deliver them one upon another to the holder facing in a direction different from that in which they started.

9. A heel lift feeding mechanism comprising lift progressing devices constructed with a gap of uniform width slightly less than a linear dimension of the lift and located adjacent to the path of the lift to permit the discharge of an imperfect lift, in combination with means for turning the lifts in their own planes, and other means operative subsequently to the turning of the lifts for rejecting imperfect lifts not discharged through said gap.

10. A lift feeding mechanism comprising serially arranged lift progressing devices separated by a space of uniform width less than a linear dimension of the lift but sufficient to permit the discharge of an imperfect lift, in combination with an abutment and guideway co-operating with the progressing devices to turn the lifts in their own planes and subsequently to reject imperfect lifts not discharged through said space.

11. A lift feeding mechanism comprising the combination of means for progressing a lift by engagement therewith and parallel. guides for supporting the edges of the lift located adjacent to said progressing means and separated by a space slightly less than a linear dimension of the lift, to permit an imperfect lift to drop through between the guides 12. A lift feeding mechanism comprising means for progressing a lift in its own plane, an obstruction located in the path of the lift, to be engaged by'the latter asit is advanced by said progressing means whereby the lift is caused to turn in its own plane, and guiding means adjacent to the progressing means and beyond said obstruction, constructed. and arranged to prevent the lift from further turning during its continued advancing movement.

13. In a machine of the character described, means, comprising a die, for cutting blanks from sheet material, and means for feeding the sheet material to and away from the die, the said means being conconstructed and arranged to support the sheet material and the blanks and being provided with an oplening through which scrap material is disc argedi 14. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting blanks from sheet material, means comprising feed wheels and conveyor belts for feeding sheet material to the die and for supporting and feeding blanks away from the die, and means associated with th feeding means for automatically discarding scrap material.

15. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting blanks from sheet material, means for feeding the sheet material to the die, means for, feeding blanks away from the die comprising conveyor belts constructed and arranged to: support the blanks, and means for automatically discarding any imperfect blanks produced during the cutting operations. I

16. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting blanks from sheet material, and means for feeding the blanks away from the die comprising a conveyor mechanism constructed and arranged to support the blanks and to provide an opening in the lower part of the conveyor mechanism through which imperfect blanks may escape to the discard.

17. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting blanks from sheet material, means comprising conveyor belts for feeding blanks away from the die, means for running the conveyor belts continuously, and means co-operating with the conveyor belts to support the blanks as they are being fed away from the die, the supporting means and the belts both having an opening therethrough through which imperfect lifts may escape to the discard.

18. In a machine of the class described, a die for cutting blanks from sheet material, feed wheels for intermittently feeding sheet material to the die and conveyor belts for feeding blanks away from the die,-certa1n of the conveyor belts being so spaced that imperfect blanks will drop through the space thus provided into the discard, and means for running the conveyor belts continuously.

19. The combination with means for cutting pieces from strips of stock, and means for progressively stacking the cut pieces, of a receiver located between the cutting and stacking means for receiving the pieces including imperfect pieces cut at the ends of the strips, and means for causing the removal of said imperfect pieces from the re ceiver.

20. The combination with means for cut-' ting pieces from strips. of stock, and means for progressively stacking the cut pieces, of means for receiving the pieces located between the cutting means and the stacking means, and means for rejecting pieces from the receiving means at intervals determined by the presence of im erfect lifts or pieces cut from the ends of tie strips of stock.

21. The combination with a die for cutting pieces from strips of stock,.and a stacking device for progressively stacking the cut pieces, of a chute for receiving the pieces before they get to the stacking device having a surface for supporting perfect pieces and for discarding imperfect pieces cut from the ends of the strips.

22. The combination with a die for cut ting piece-s from strips of stock, and a stack ing device for progressively stacking the cut pieces, of a chute for receiving the pieces and having means for causing the rejection of imperfect pieces cut from the ends of the strips.

23. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting heel lifts from strips of sheet material, conveying means for receiving the lifts and also the scrap pieces cut from the ends of the strips and having guiding surfaces to keep the lifts continuously under control while rejecting the imperfect lifts and scrap pieces cut from the ends of the. strips, and a stacking device beyond the conveying means for receiving and maintaining the perfect lifts in stacked relation.

24:. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting lifts from strips of sheet material, a stacking device for receiving the lifts and maintaining them in groups. from which they can subsequently be individually removed and utilized, and means interposed between the die and stacking device for supporting the lifts comprising a chute constructed and arranged to reject imperfect lifts or pieces of scrap cut from the ends of the strips of sheet material.

25. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting lifts from strips of sheet material, a stacking device for receiving the lifts and maintaining them in groups from which they can subsequently be individually removed and utilized, and means interposed between the die and the stacking device operative to maintain the lifts continuously under control and comprising a chute operative to turn the lifts each in its own plane and to effect the rejection ofimperfect lifts before they reach the stacking device.

26. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting lifts from strips of sheet material, a stacking device for receiving the lifts and maintaining them in groups from which they can subsequently be individually removed and utilized, and a chute interposed between the die and stacking device for supporting the lifts and having means for rejecting imperfect lifts or pieces of scrap cut from the ends of the strips of sheet material.

27. In a machine of the character described, a die for cutting lifts from strips of sheet material, a stacking device for re- :ative to thin theyliil'ts each in its own plane and to reject imperfect lifts before they reach the stacking device.

11 testimony whereof I havesigned my name to this specification.

RALPH C. SIMMONS. 

